Carnival Frolic Half Marathon

At the beggining of the year, I sat down and made a plan of all of the races I wanted to run this year.  I really have big goals I want to reach as an athlete this year and I needed a realistic starting point.  I signed up for the Carnival Frolic several weeks ago knowing there was a chance of some nasty weather.   I had said all along that if it was below 40 degrees, that I wasn't going to do it but lucky for me, it was a mild 53.  However, it was also 100% chance of rain!

My friend and I discussed backing out on Friday but tried to be optimistic and convinced ourselves that it wouldn't be too bad even if it rained.  We prepped for rain but as we lined up at the starting line, it wasn't hardly raining at all so I held my poncho in my hand and took off.

Around mile two-ish, the rain started coming down.  I convinced myself that I could run in a poncho and took a moment to do a little wardrobe change.  I took off my long sleeve pullover, tied it around my waist, and replaced it with my poncho.  At mile 3ish, my watch stopped and I began to worry it was getting to wet so I took it off and put it in my running belt with my phone.  And apparently I forgot to start my tracking back when I did that because when I passed the 4 mile marker, I never got a notification so I decided to just stop and start it all over again.  I was getting a little frustrated with all of my wardrobe malfunctions but my spirits were brightened a little bit when I saw my aunt waiting for me around mile 5.  I said a quick hello, smiled for a picture, and dropped off my pullover with her.  She then met me at a few more spots along the course and I was soooo happy to have someone cheering me on along the way (especially in the horrible rain).

About mile 7, my music stopped.  When I took my phone out, I realized it was no longer tracking my running and I decided to just start it all over.  Well it was raining a little harder than I realized at this point and my phone got super wet as I tried to fix it and I never could get my tracking back going again.  So I stuffed it back in my belt with my watch and just got it to play music instead.  After this, I had no idea how long I had been running or how far I was except for when I crossed the mile markers.

The rain never let up, and around mile 9, I was ready to call it quits.  My feet were soaked, my gear wasn't cooperating, and I managed to have like no one anywhere near me on the course but I pushed on slowly.  The last mile of the race included several overpasses and a big hill and I was so ready to be done!  I finally crossed the finish line at 2:17:42 which was way better than I expected to do considering the weather conditions and my very minimal training.

I really enjoyed the course.  It was mostly flat and open and I never felt crowded or anything like that at all.  I am not sure how many people ended up running but it didn't seem like a whole lot.  I am sure the rain had a lot to do with that as well.  After the race, I changed into some dry clothes, came home and took a long hot shower, and then basically laid around all day.  Probably not the best recovery routine but I was sooooo tired!

It wasn't the BEST race ever but I am glad to get me a good starting point to really try and improve upon this year!